Guy Barnett (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Chairman of the Scrutiny of Government Waste Committee) Share this | Hansard source

I speak wholeheartedly and wholesomely in opposition to the Fairer Private Health Insurance Incentives (Medicare Levy Surcharge) Bill 2009 [No. 2] and theFairer Private Health Insurance Incentives (Medicare Levy Surcharge—Fringe Benefits) Bill 2009. If the Prime Minister decides in his wisdom to use this legislation, if it is defeated, as a double dissolution trigger, then I say, ‘Bring it on!’ because I am quite happy to have a debate about the importance of health to the Australian people and about the importance of a balanced health system with public and private options and support for both. I am committed to upholding a duty of care for my fellow Australians and my fellow Tasmanians in particular.

We know full well that the government promised to the nth degree prior to the last election that they would not change the private health insurance rebate support. We have quote after quote from Prime Minister Rudd—he was then opposition leader—and the Hon. Nicola Roxon, the now Minister for Health and Ageing and the former shadow health minister, promising up hill and down dale that they would not change those arrangements one iota. They expressed strong support for the private health insurance rebate and the current arrangements, yet in this parliament last year they tried to push through changes which will adversely impact not just those who will have to pay increased premiums—those 11-million-odd Australians who have private health insurance and will obviously have to pay extra as a result of the drop-off resulting from the government’s changes—but also those in the public hospital system. They will be forced onto queues, and waiting lists and waiting times will increase.

We know that in Tasmania we have amongst the highest waiting times and longest waiting lists in Australia. We do not want to make it any worse. Last year, St.LukesHealth insurance organisation undertook research on the effect of the changes the government proposed at that time. I commend Colleen McGann, who is the head of St.LukesHealth insurance organisation in Northern Tasmania. She does a great job, she provides leadership and she supports a healthy community. Their research showed that as a result of the proposed changes Launceston General Hospital could face up to an additional 10,000 patients. That would have been a disaster for northern Tasmania. We know that the effect of this legislation if it were to pass would be to put pressure on the public hospital system. We do not want that. We want to have a balanced approach where those paying private health insurance premiums support the private sector and where there is also support for the public sector. I commend in this chamber the initiative of Will Hodgman, the state Liberal leader, on his announcement of the Smarter Health Care policy for northern Tasmania, released last Wednesday, when he said that under his proposal he would:

• Create a 28-bed transitional care facility at a refurbished John L. Grove Centre ...
• Provide four dedicated palliative care beds in Launceston, more than doubling palliative care availability;
• Significantly boost the ‘Hospital in the Home’ service for chronic disease, frequent hospital users and post discharge care;
• Establish Tasmania’s first Walk-in Care Clinic;
• Create eight funded positions for nurse practitioners to deliver a range of health solutions from the hospital to the home;
• Establish a $500,000 per annum Rapid Response Unit and GP Development Fund; and
• Fully fund the positions of doctors, nurses and allied health staff required to meet the construction of the expanded Department of Emergency Medicine, Acute Medical Unit, Day Procedure Unit and expanded ICU/HDU at the Launceston General Hospital.

Will Hodgman is doing a great job in Tasmania. He and the Liberals support the health system and they want a balanced approach. He says:

These initiatives, combined with the Liberal policy to spend $10m in two years to drastically cut elective surgery waiting lists through a strategic public-private partnership in our Sooner the Better policy, will ensure better health results all round for people in Northern Tasmania.

They have put together a very sensible, comprehensive health policy that will support the health of Tasmanians. We know that the track record of the Labor government in Tasmania is appalling when it comes to waiting lists and waiting times for Tasmanians, whether it be in the north, the north-west or the south. Tasmanians will have an opportunity to decide whether they want real change—whether they want to put up with waiting lists and waiting times that go on and on and on or whether they want those waiting lists and waiting times to be cut so that proper health care services can be delivered to Tasmanians. They deserve better than that which has been delivered under the Bartlett Labor government in Tasmania. They know that Will Hodgman and Brett Whiteley—I commend Brett Whiteley, the shadow minister for health, on the work that he is doing and the leadership that he is delivering on health—